Apparatus for extracting oil or other fluids from a well

ABSTRACT

The present invention is directed towards a fluid extractor system that has been design to obtain fluid, such as crude oil from wells at a fraction of the cost by using a novel canister assembly lowered in a well to collect the fluid. The canister assembly includes a pump and a storage container for collecting the fluid pumped into it by the pump. When the storage container is full the canister assembly is brought to the surface and emptied. In one embodiment the canister assembly has a battery to independently power the pump. A further feature of the invention includes repeatedly raising and incrementally lowering down the canister assembly to lower levels in the well using a jogging assembly to place the canister assembly only in the top layer of the fluid in the well. The system could also be used for recovering several other types of fluids in a well such as gas or water.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/106,655 filed on Mar. 26, 2002 now abandoned entitled “AnApparatus for Extracting Oil or Other Fluids from a Well” that in turnclaims priority from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/290,252filed on May 11, 2001 entitled “An Apparatus and System for ExtractingOil”.

FIELD

The present disclosure is directed towards an extractor system that hasbeen designed to recover fluids such as oil, gas, or water from wells ata fraction of the cost by using a canister assembly that may includes apump and a storage container for retrieving the fluid.

BACKGROUND

There are a couple types of pumps for wells, especially deep wells suchas oil wells. The most commonly used pumps include pump jacks orreciprocating pumps. Pump jacks or reciprocating pumps use smalldiameter pumps that fit down in a well and are fitted to dischargetubing that is used to transport fluid to the surface. These pumps areoften operated by sucker rods, which operate the pump pneumatically.Examples of these types of pumps are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos.1,603,675 and 2,180,864. Problems often occur with these types of pumpsbecause of the weight of the fluid and the power required to pump it upthe long column (which can be thousands of feet long) formed bythirty-foot sections of discharge tube. When these problems occur, thedischarge tubing and sucker rods must be disassembled before the pumpcan be brought to the surface for repair.

Another type of pump that is currently being used is a bailer pump.These pumps operate much like the ancient rope and bucket approach. Abailer is lowered into the well and allowed to sit in the fluid longenough for it to fill the bailer. A timer is often used to control theamount of time the bailer is in the fluid to insure that fluid has hadenough time to seep into the bailer to fill it before the bailer ispulled to the surface and emptied. An example of this type of well isshown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,086,035. Often the issue withthese types of pumps is that they are not very efficient. Time is lostbecause the bailer is sent to a constant depth which is often well belowthe surface level of the fluid to insure that it recovers fluid witheach cycle. Fluid typically enters a hole in the bottom of the bailerand a check valve is used to prevent it from leaking out when the baileris brought to the surface. Further, for oil wells, if water is presentand rises to that predetermined level, water will be recovered with theoil. Time may also be lost waiting for the fluid to seep into thebailer, if the seepage rate is unknown. Plus a mess is likely when thebailers are dumped at the surface.

SUMMARY

Unlike most conventional fluid recovery techniques, which place either apump or bailer in the well to pump fluid to the surface, the presentdisclosure places a canister in the well that may have both a pump and astorage container. According to one embodiment of the canister, when thecanister is in the well, the pump is activated and fills the storagecontainer when fluid such as oil is detected. At timed intervals, whichmay depend on the amount of fluid in the well or the recovery rate offluid in the well, the canister assembly is pulled to the surface andits contents in the storage container emptied using compressed air froma compressor. In other words, when the canister is brought to thesurface of the well, a compressor is automatically connected to canisterusing a discharge head and compressed air forces the fluid out of thecanister. The discharge head provides two plenums, which align with atleast two holes in the canister for providing a fluid connection to thecompressor and a discharge port. Once emptied, the canister assembly isthen lowered into the well to recover more fluid.

In an alternative embodiment, the canister is not equipped with a pump.Fluid is allowed to seep into the top of the canister through at least afirst hole, which will later be connected to the compressor to force thefluid out of the canister. A second hole is provided and is connected tothe discharge port of the discharge head when the canister is at the topof the well. When compressed air is introduced into the canister, fluidis forced up a tube in the canister and out through the second hole. Athird hole maybe provided to allow air to escape while fluid seeps intothe first hole of the canister. Preferably the third hole is locatedabove the first hole.

The present disclosure also describes an efficient method and apparatusfor extracting only oil. Often a wellhead or column of oil forms in thewell on top of a salt-water layer. According to the present disclosure ajogging assembly is provided to minimize the travel of the canisterassembly up and down the well and to stop just above the salt-waterlayer to avoid pumping water. In other words, the jogging assemblycauses the canister assembly to be lowered into the well atincrementally lower levels to place the canister assembly in only thetop layer or column of oil. The jogging assembly accounts for thedropping level of the oil as it is pumped out of the well and can befurther adjusted to compensate for rising levels of water in the well asthe oil is pumped out.

According to the present disclosure an extractor assembly for recoveringfluid includes a canister assembly that has a storage container forstoring the recovered fluid and a pump for pumping the fluid from thewell into the storage container. In one embodiment the canister furtherincludes a battery for independently powering the pump. In anotherembodiment, the canister only contains a storage container having a tubeplaced in the container for allowing fluid to be forced to the top ofthe container through the used of pressurized air when the canister isemptied at the top of the well.

A base assembly is used for lowering and raising the canister into andout of the well. The base assembly may also include a discharge headthat engages with the canister assembly when it is raised to the top ofthe well to provide for an electrical connection between the battery anda battery charger. The discharge head may also be used as a conduit forconnecting a compressor to the canister assembly for providingpressurized air to the storage container when the canister assembly hasbeen raised to the top of the well for emptying its contents.

A jogging assembly may also be attached to the base assembly toincrementally lower the canister assembly into the well with eachrecovery cycle. The jogging assembly may further include means toprevent the base assembly from lowering the canister assembly below apredetermined level in the well. Preferably the jogging assembly has alead screw that has a threaded portion that rotates along its axis asthe canister is lowered into the well causing a follower to traveltowards a limit switch used to turn off a motor that is used to lowerthe canister in the well. Jogging means is further provided forincrementally increasing the distance between the limit switch and thefollower with each fluid recovery cycle to cause the follower to travelfurther distances with each fluid recovery cycle and thereby causing thecanister assembly to be lowered further into the well with each recoverycycle. The increments that the canister assembly is lowered with eachrecovery cycle can be predetermined.

While this invention will primary be described a device for recoveringoil, it could be easily used for recovering other fluids, such as wateror gas. As will be realized by those skilled in the art, the presentdisclosure also provides additional unique functions and features. Forexample the design is compact and provides for low maintenance. Theextractor unit can be either powered by AC or DC, which would enableextraction of oil in remote places where AC power is not readilyavailable. The design is also inexpensive to make and to operate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the disclosure belowwill become clearer with reference to the following detailed descriptionas illustrated by the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the extractor system of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a partially cross sectional view of the discharge head and aportion of the canister assembly depicted in FIG. 1 as it engages withthe discharge head.

FIG. 3 is a partially cross sectional view of the discharge head and thecanister assembly depicted in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3A is an alterative, partially cross sectional view of a dischargehead and the canister assembly that is not equipped with a pump andpower supply.

FIG. 4 is a partially cross sectional view of the discharge head and aportion of the canister assembly depicted in FIG. 1 fully engaged withthe discharge head.

FIG. 5 is a partially cross sectional view of the canister assembly usedto show how fluid is pumped into a storage container of the canisterassembly.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a jogging assembly attached to the baseassembly for incrementally lowering the canister assembly.

FIG. 7 is a more detailed schematic diagram of a cam assembly of thejogging assembly of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating the components of theelectrical enclosure shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 9 is an alternative schematic diagram illustrating the componentsof the electrical enclosure when the Extractor Unit is powered by DC.

DETAIL DESCRIPTION

The extractor system shown in FIG. 1 basically consists of twocomponents; a surface base assembly 10, and a canister assembly 12 thatis lowered down a well by the base assembly 10 to retrieve fluid such asoil, gas, or water. The preferred method of installing the extractor tothe well includes fitting a tube 14 attached to the bottom of the baseassembly 10 and placed over the top of a well casing 16. Attaching thetube 14 to the well casing 16 can be accomplished in a number of wayssuch as by bolting, screwing, or clamping the tube 14 to the top of thewell casing 16. Alternatively, the base assembly could be mounted to aplatform (not shown) around the well. Other methods for mounting theassembly is also possible and should become apparent to one skilled inthe art depending on the circumstances of and access to the well.

The Base and Canister Assemblies

The Base assembly 10 includes a base 18 and a structural platform 20secured to the base for supporting an electrical enclosure 22, amotor/gearbox assembly 24, a spool of cable 26, pulleys 28 and 30, anair compressor 32, limit switches 34, 36, and 38, and a discharge head40. The cable, as well as the other component parts such as the pulleys28 and 30, motor/gear box assembly 24, air compressor 32 and limitswitches 34, 36, and 38, is a standard off-the-shelf component.Similarly, the electrical enclosure 22 includes standard electricalcomponents. For example, FIGS. 8 and 9 show simple wiring diagrams ofthe electrical components use to operate the extractor system. Asillustrated, in FIG. 8 three solenoids operated relays 180, 182, 184, atimer 186, and a battery charger 188 are included. One solenoid 180 isused to start and stop the motor/gear assembly 24. Another solenoid 182is used for starting and stopping the compressor 32. The third solenoid184 is used for reversing the direction of the motor/gearbox assembly24. Similarly standard, off the shelf electrical components are used inFIG. 9. These and the other components will be discussed in greaterdetail below. As one skilled in the art will appreciate in view of thediscussion below, the selection of all of the above parts will generallydepend on the load, capacity, and application of the extractor assembly.

The discharge head 40, which will be discussed in greater detail below,is mounted directly above the canister assembly 12, and positioned overthe well opening. The primary purpose of the discharge head is todispense and receive the canister assembly 12 into and out of the welland empty the oil from the canister assembly. As discussed below, it mayalso be used to charge a battery 76 (FIG. 3) placed inside the canisterassembly or as a conduit to supply pressurized air from the compressorto empty the fluid contents of the canister assembly 12. A hood 42 maybe placed over the base assembly 10 to protect the component parts ofthe extractor system.

The canister assembly 12 is a device that generally includes a storagecontainer 78 and a pump 80 for filling the storage container with fluidfrom a well. In the shown embodiment, a battery 76 independently powersthe pump 80. Alternatively, the canister assembly 12 itself maybe astorage container without a pump. Essentially, fluid is collected in thecontainer by allowing fluid to seep into a hole placed near the top ofthe canister. The canister assembly 12 will also be discussed in greaterdetail below and generally with reference to FIGS. 3, 3A, and 5.

The canister assembly 12 is attached to a cable 46 and is raised andlowered into the well by rotating the spool of cable 22. The motor/gearbox assembly 24 connected to the spool operates the spool 26 by a drivechain 44. As shown cable 46 is threaded from the spool of cable 26,around pulleys 28 and 30, and through a hole in the center of acentering rod 50 slidably mounted in the discharge head 40. Referring toFIG. 2, the cable 46 is connected to the canister assembly 12 by firstfeeding it through a hole in a nose flange 52, as shown, and then bycrimping it to a cable stop 54 (such as a ferrule), which prevents thecable 46 from coming out of the nose flange 52. The nose flange 52 isattached to a nose portion 56 of the canister assembly 12 by bolts orother suitable means (not shown). Other suitable methods for attachingthe cable to the canister assembly is possible and should be apparent toone skilled in the art.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 4, it is important that the discharge headproperly receive the nose portion 56 of the canister assembly 12 so thatit is engaged at the correct depth without hanging up on the insidediameter of the discharge head 40. Proper alignment allows for air andoil plenums 60 and 62 to be formed between the discharge head 40 and thecanister assembly 12 to create pressurized passageways that will be usedto pump the oil from the canister assembly. The plenums 60 and 62 arepreferably formed by grooves around the circumference of the dischargehead 40 and the nose portion 56 of the canister assembly 12. Seals 64and 66 are provided on each side of the air plenum 60. Proper alignmentalso ensures that proper electrical contacts are made to charge thebattery, as will be discussed in greater detail below.

The centering rod 50 protruding down through the center of the dischargehead 20 is spring loaded and accomplishes the centering process. Thecentering rod 50 has a countersink shape at one end 68 to match the tipon the nose flange 52 of the canister assembly 12 as shown, and is sizedto freely slide up and down within the discharge head 20. A plate 70 isattached to the other end of the centering rod 50 and is biased towardthe base assembly 10 by two tension springs 72, thereby biasing thecentering rod toward the canister assembly. The tension springs 72 areconnected to the bottom of the base 18 as shown. Bolts 74 are providedto adjust the bias of the springs 72, if necessary, and to provide atravel stop for the centering rod 50.

During operation, as the nose flange 52 of the canister assembly 12 israised and makes contact with the centering rod 50, it pushes thecentering rod assembly 50 up into the discharge head 40 stretching thetension springs 72 as shown in FIG. 4. This additional load causes thenose flange 52 of the canister assembly 12 to seat in the centering rodcounter sink end 68 thereby holding canister nose portion 56 in thecenter of the discharge head 40. The springs 72 are also used to pushthe canister nose portion 56 out of the discharge head 40 when thecanister assembly 12 is lowered back into the well, which also keeps thecanister nose portion 56 from hanging up in the discharge head 40.

The above resolves the centering problem, but not the angle alignmentproblem. Generally when the base assembly 10 is mounted to the well itmay not always provide for a perfect alignment of the canister assembly12 and the discharge head 40. To insure the nose of the canisterassembly 12 enters the discharge head 40 at the correct angle, thedischarge head 40 is given enough freedom to allow it to tilt. Toaccomplish this the discharge head 40 is bolted to the base 18 usingfour springs 58 and four alignment bolts 61 positioned in the center ofthe springs 58. (To minimize the complexity of the drawings, only onepair of springs and guild bolts is shown in FIGS. 2 and 4). As thecanister nose portion 56 continues into the discharge head 40, aftermaking contact with the centering rod 50, it makes contact with theinside diameter of discharge head 40 (as shown in FIG. 4). This contacttends to force the discharge head 40 to tilt at the same angle as thenose of the canister assembly 12 thereby insuring that the canister noseportion 56 will seat in the discharge head 40 at the proper angle andheight. The canister assembly 12 travel is stopped when the plate 70rises to a set point where it makes contact with a limit switch 34 (moreclearly shown in FIG. 1), shutting off the spool motor/gearbox assembly24.

The assembly of the four springs 58 and alignment bolts 61 also allowfor over travel, as the canister nose portion 56 seats in the dischargehead 40. Typically a small amount of over travel occurs before the spoolof cable 26 stops. This over travel is taken up by the four springs 58pushing on the base of the discharge head 40, keeping the load on thecable 46 and within a safe limit as the canister nose portion 56 anddischarge head 40 comes to a stop. A second safety limit switch 38 maybe provided to stop the motor if the discharge head 40 travels too faror the first limit switch 34 fails.

Referring now to FIGS. 3, 4, and 8, once the canister nose portion 56has seated in the discharge head 40, the battery 76 is charged and oilis removed from the storage container 78 (FIG. 3). Both are accomplishedwhen electrical contact is established between three electrical contacts82 a, 82 b, and 82 c, mounted in the discharge head and wired to theelectrical enclosure 22 and three metal bands 84 a, 84 b, and 84 cmounted on the canister nose 30. For clarity only one of the electricalcontacts 82 a is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. By having metal bands ascontacts, the rotational orientation of the canister assembly coming outof the well is not important. Wires (not shown) electrically connectthese metal bands 84 a, 84 b, and 84 c to the battery 76 and to a fillsensor 86, which is basically a float sensor. Two of the contacts 82 band 82 c are used as charging lines, which feed D.C. power from abattery charger 188 mounted in the electrical enclosure 22 (FIG. 8), forrecharging the battery 76. Preferably the battery 76 is mounted in asealed container 88 at the bottom of a storage container 78 locatedwithin the canister assembly 12. The battery selected in the preferredembodiment is 12 volts, but other voltages could be used depending onthe requirements needed to run the pump 80. The other electrical contact82 a is used to feed power from the battery 76, through the fill sensor86 mounted at the bottom of the storage container 78, to a twelve-voltrelay 182 mounted in the electrical enclosure 22. The twelve-volt relayis used to open a solenoid valve 90 (FIG. 1) that controls the supply ofair from the compressor, as will be explained below.

Referring now to FIG. 3A, an alternative canister assembly and dischargehead is shown. Essentially the parts and features described above forthe canister assembly are the same as indicated by the same referencenumbers, with the exception that this canister assembly does not have apump, battery, or mechanisms used to detect fluid level in the well toturn on the pump as described above. Further, there are no electricalcontacts to align for charging a battery. The canister assembly isprimarily a container used for collecting fluid in the well. Additionalfeatures and details of this canister will be discussed in more detailbelow.

Removing Oil from the Canister Assembly

Referring to FIGS. 1, 3, 4 and 8, oil is removed from the storagecontainer 78 located in the canister assembly 12 by pressurized air. Byactivating the solenoid 182 (FIG. 8), pressurized air from thecompressor 32 is fed through the airline 92 (FIG. 1) to the air plenum60, via an air inlet 94 in the discharge head 40 (FIG. 4). The airplenum 60 supplies the pressurized air to an opening 96 in the center ofthe nose portion 56 of canister assembly 12. This opening 96 isconnected to the top of the storage container 78 by an air passageway98. As air, supplied from the compressor 32, builds up pressure in thestorage container 78, it forces oil that has been collected in thestorage container 78 to be forced through a discharge tube 100. Thedischarge tube 100 runs from the bottom of the storage container 78 tothe bottom of the canister nose portion 56. Oil forced through thedischarge tube 100 passes through a channel 102 in the canister noseportion 56 and into the oil plenum 62. A discharge port 104 in thedischarge head 40 provides a path for the oil to be transferred to anexterior storage vessel via a transfer tube (not shown). A one-way checkvalve (not shown) may be located at the discharge port 104 to preventoil from returning back to the storage container 78. When the oil levelis drained to the bottom of the storage container 78, the fill sensor 86shuts off the current to the twelve-volt relay 182 thereby closing thesolenoid valve 90 to stop the airflow from the compressor 32.

After the oil has been removed from the storage container 78 and thebattery 76 has been charged, a programmable timer 186 (FIG. 8) mountedin the electrical enclosure 22 energizes a motor relay 180 to start thespool motor/gearbox 24 to drop the canister assembly 12 back into thewell. The timer 186 is preset to a predetermined amount of time to allowfor sufficient amount of charge time for the battery, for example 10minutes. To insure the canister nose portion 56 comes out of thedischarge head 40, the spring-loaded centering rod 50 pushes on the topof the canister nose portion 56 forcing it out of the discharge head 40as described above.

Discharging oil from the alternative canister depicted in FIG. 3A issimilar. When the nose portion is fully engaged with the discharge head40, as shown, plenums 60A and 62A are formed. Pressurized air enters theair inlet 94A (as indicated by arrow 95) to the air plenum 60A formedbetween the discharge head 40 and the nose portion 56A of the canisterassembly 12 and into the canister assembly through channels 57A and 57Bprovided in the nose portion 56A. These channels will be discussedfurther in greater below. As pressurized air enter the canister assembly(arrow 95), fluid is forced up through the discharge tube 100, whichextends to the bottom of the canister assembly, and out the channel 102as illustrated by arrows 101. The advantage with this design is thatthere is no battery to charge and no electrical contacts to be alignedwith electrical connection in the discharge head 40. Once the canisterassembly has been emptied, the canister assembly can be immediatelyreturned down the well to recover more fluid. No time is lost, whichwould otherwise be required to charge the battery.

Collecting Oil in the Canister Assembly

Before describing how the canister assembly collects oil, it should beunderstood that before the extractor is placed onto the well, the levelof the oil and an oil/water interface, if any, is known Sensing devicescommonly used today can determine the depth of the top of the oil, thehead height of the oil or the depth of the oil/water interface level inthe well. Once these levels have been determined, a down travel stopassembly 106 is mounted on the structural platform 20 (FIG. 1).Generally, the travel stop assembly comprises a lead screw 108 that ispositioned between two pillow blocks 110 a and 110 b mounted to thestructural platform 20 and rotates in place as the spool of cable 26rotates. A follower 112 travels down the lead screw 108 as it rotatestoward a limit switch 36 when the canister assembly 12 is lowered intothe well. The travel stop assembly, which will be described in greaterdetail below with a jogging assembly, is set so that the canisterassembly 12 will stop just above the water in the well, thereby allowingit to reside in oil only. Once the canister assembly is immersed in oil,the pump 80 located in the canister assembly 12 is then activated andonly oil is pumped into the storage container 78. This technique avoidspumping oil and water into a storage container thereafter requiring itto be separated in a storage tank. Eliminating the need to separate thecollected oil and water and thereafter disposing of the unwanted waterwill realize considerable savings.

Collecting oil in the canister assembly 12 will now be described. Thecanister assembly is designed to be placed in the oil and reside in theoil until the storage container 72 has been filled. Once filled, thecanister assembly is raised and emptied as discussed above. As discussedabove the canister assembly 12 contains a battery 76, storage container78 and a pump 80. This enables the canister assembly to be anoperationally self-contained unit, totally independent from the baseassembly mounted to the well casing. As an alternative design, oneskilled in the art should realize that an AC power line could be loweredwith the canister assembly to power the pump. Furthermore, an expensiveelectrical cable could be used to both lower the canister assemblycontainer in the well and to power the pump. It would be obvious to oneskilled in the art that these designs would require replacing the DCelectrical components used with AC components.

The process of filling the canister assembly starts as soon as thecanister assembly 12 is placed in the oil. Referring now to FIG. 5, oilstarts to flow through a strainer 114 and fills a strainer cavity 116 assoon as the canister assembly 12 is immersed in oil. The strainer helpskeep larger particle that could clog the pump from entering thecanister. As the strainer cavity 116 fills, it raises a float 118 a.When the float 118 a reaches the top of its travel, it activates aswitch 118 b used to turn on the current from the battery 76 to energizethe pump 80. A pump impeller 120 sucks oil from the strainer cavity 116through an inlet port 122 and out through a port 124. From the port 124,oil flows up through a tube 126 through a check valve 128 and into thestorage container 78. When the storage container 78 reaches capacity, afloat sensor switch 130, similar to the one in the strainer cavity 116and mounted at the top of the storage container (FIG. 2), shuts off thecurrent to the pump 80. The canister assembly 12 stays in the well untilthe programmable timer 186 mounted in the electrical enclosure 22energizes a drive motor relay 180 to start the spool motor/gearboxassembly 24 to pull the load of oil up to the discharge head 40. Once inthe discharge head 40, the oil is discharged as described above and thebattery 76 is charged before the cycle starts over.

With regard to the alternative canister assembly depicted in FIG. 3A,oil enters through the opening formed by the channel 57A. The otheropening formed by channel 57B is preferably higher on the nose portionthan the opening formed by channel 57A. This construction wouldfacilitate filling the canister by allowing air that might otherwise betrapped in the canister to easily escape through the channel 57B (asindicated by arrow 103A in FIG. 3A) as oil enters channel 57A (asindicated by arrow 103B in FIG. 3A).

The capacity of oil pumped is determined by several factors; thediameter of the well, the size or length of the storage container, thenumber of cycles of the extractor in a 24-hour period, the depth of thewell, the producing capability of the well, and the time that isrequired to charge the battery. For example, if the storage container 78is designed to hold 5 gallons of fluid, to produce a barrel of oil (42gallons) it would require 8.4 pulls or cycles of collecting anddischarging oil from the storage container 78. This example assumes thatthe well depth is approximately 1000 feet. Given that depth anddepending on the size motor that is used, it will take about 20 minutesfor the canister to travel down the well, 10 minutes to fill the storagecontainer 78, 20 minutes up to pull the canister assembly 12 up from thewell, and 10 minutes to discharge the oil and charge the battery. Inother words, by appropriately setting the timers one cycle would take atotal of 60 minutes. In a 24-hour period the unit will extract 120gallons of oil or 2.9 barrels in the 24-hour period. By way of anotherexample, using the same assumptions, if the storage container held 10gallons, the unit could produce 5.8 barrels in a 24-hour period.

The Jogging System

To maximize the efficiency of the extractor system a jogging system ispreferably mounted to the extractor system. A preferred embodiment ofthe jogging system is shown in FIG. 6. The jogging system includes alead screw 108 that is connected to the spool of cable 26 by a camassembly 132. The cam assembly 132 causes the lead screw 108 to rotatein place whenever the spool of cable 26 rotates. The cam assembly 132will be discussed in greater detail below. As described above the pillowblocks 110 a and 110 b are used to secure the lead screw 108 to the baseassembly 20 in such way as to allow it to rotate along its axis as thespool of cable 26 rotates. The follower 112 is threaded onto the leadscrew 108 and has a cam guide 109, which extends down from the follower112. The cam guide 109 is basically a metal plate attached to thefollower 12. A threaded jogging rod 134 is mounted to fit through a hole111 provided in the cam guide 109. The hole 111 is sized with enoughclearance to allow the jogging rod 134 to slide therein without anysubstantial frictional interference. As the spool of cable rotates 26 tolower the canister assembly 12 into the well, the follower 112 movestoward the limit switch 34, which is attached to the threaded joggingrod 134. As described above this switch is used to shut off themotor/gear assembly 24 of the extractor to stop the canister assembly 12from being lowered further into the well. The position of the limitswitch 34 is preferably placed at a point on the threaded jogging rod134 that translates to the top of the oil column in the well where thecanister assembly can be placed to extract oil. Thus moving the switchto the left or away from the spool of cable as shown represents ortranslates to lower travel depths in the well. The switch 34 isactivated when the cam guide 109 makes contact with it.

The threaded jogging rod 134 is mounted below the lead screw 108 usinganti-rotational blocks 136 a and 136 b. The anti-rotational blocks 136 aand 136 b, which may be made of square metal tubes, are sized to allowthe jogging rod to freely slide back and forth within them. The joggingrod 134 is connected to the cam assembly 132 by a slave gear 138 thathas an internal threaded portion (not shown) that mates with the threadsof the jogging rod 134. In operation the slave gear 138 rotates when thefollower 112 is compressed against the cam assembly 132, which occurswhen the canister assembly 12 is coupled to the discharge head 40 toremove oil from the storage container 78. The cam assembly 132 alsoworks in combination with the anti-rotational blocks 136 a and 136 b topermit the jogging rod 134 to slide only in a direction away from thespool of cable 26, thereby increasing the length or distance that thefollower 112 will have to travel to turn off the spool/motor gearassembly 24. A spring 135 connected between the jogging rod 134 and theanti-rotational block 136 a is used to provide bias tension.

A detent (not shown), which may be attached to the structural platform20, slides over the gears of the slave gear when it rotates in thedirection that moves the limit switch 34 away from the spool of cable.The detent prevents the slave gear 138 from rotating in the otherdirection. This action will be discussed in more detail during thediscussion of the cam assembly 132 below. As a result, the limit switch34 is incrementally moved to the left thereby increasing the distancethat the follower has to travel to make contact with the limit switch tostop the extractor assembly from dropping the canister assembly 12further into the well.

A shut-off slot 140 is provided on the jogging rod as shown to preventthe slave gear 138 from sliding the jogging rod too far from the spoolof cable and serves as the mechanism for limiting the travel of thecanister assembly down in the well. In other words, this depth generallyrepresents the depth in the well where an interface of oil and waterexists and will be the lowest depth that the canister assembly isallowed to travel down in the well. It is desirable not to allow thecanister assembly to travel at depths below that point because onlywater or a mixture of water and oil will be recovered. It may alsorepresent the bottom of the well. Machining a portion of the treads offof the jogging rod can easily create this shut-off slot 140.

The cam assembly 132 will now be described. Referring now to FIG. 7 thecam assembly 132 includes a drive gear 142 that mates with the slavegear 138. The drive gear 142 has a sleeve portion 144 that has a camslot 147 formed along its length as shown. Both the drive gear 142 andits sleeve portion 144 are sized to allow them to easily rotate withoutinterference over a shank portion 146 of the lead screw 108 that hasbeen machined to have a smaller diameter. The drive gear 142 is held inplace by a beveled gear 158, which is attached to the shank portion 146and mates with a gear 160 (shown in phantom) attached by suitable meansto the axial of the spool of cable. A thrust bearing 162 is placedbetween the drive gear and the beveled gear to reduce friction andprevent wear on either part. As the spool of cable rotates, gear 160rotates causing the beveled gear 158 to rotate thereby rotating the leadscrew 108. As the lead screw 108 rotates, the treads of the lead screwmove the follower 112. The follower 112 is prevented from rotatingbecause the jogging rod 134 acts as a stop for the cam guide 109. A dogcollar 148 is sized to fit over the sleeve portion 144 of the drive gearto allow it to freely slide over the sleeve portion 144. The dog collar148 has an inner diameter that is positioned to butt up against thelarger diameter of the lead screw as shown. In other words the collar issized to easily slide over the sleeve but not the threaded portion ofthe lead screw, which will serve as a stop for the collar. A pin 150 ispositioned in the dog collar 148 as shown and extends into the cam slot147 formed in the sleeve portion 144. A second pin 152 is placed in thecollar 148 and is used to fit in one of several holes 154 formed in thefollower 112 when it comes into contact with the cam assembly 132.Preferably the second pin 152 is pointed as shown so that it can easilyfind its way into one of the holes formed in the follower. Although itis not clearly shown, multiple holes are preferably formed along theradius of the follower in relation to the lead screw and correspond tothe radius of the second pin in relation to the lead screw. The reasonfor these multiple holes will become clearer in view of the discussionbelow. A bias spring 156 is placed between the collar 148 and the drivegear 142 to bias the collar against the larger diameter of the leadscrew 108. This bias helps to keep the second pin 152 engaged into oneof several holes formed in the follower.

The operation of the cam assembly will now be described. As alreadymentioned, the travel distance of the follower to the limit switchdetermines the depth of canister assembly in the well. The object of thejogging assembly is to incrementally lower the canister assembly in thewell to maximize the time and efficiency of the fluid recovery. Theincremental lowering adjustments are made when the canister assembly isbrought to its home position (fully retracted out of the well andengaged with the discharge head 40). In the home position the followercompresses up against the collar. As the follower moves toward thecollar, the second pin finds and engages with one of the multiple holesin the follower. As the follower compresses against the collar it causesthe collar to slide over the sleeve portion 144 and toward the drivegear 142. As it does this, pin 150, traveling in the cam slot 147 formedin the sleeve portion, causes the sleeve portion and thus the drive gearto rotate. As a result the drive gear rotates the slave gear 138, whichcauses the jogging rod to move in a direction away from the spool ofcable. The amount of compression or travel of the collar along thesleeve portion determines the incremental amount that the jogging rodwill slide away from the spool of cable and thus the distance of thelimit switch from the cam guide. The user predetermines this amount oftravel along the collar by positioning it at that location with thecanister assembly in the home position. The net result in the movementof the jogging rod translates to the amount that canister assembly isincrementally lowered into the well. In other words, the amount oftravel of the pin along the slot portion will determine the amount thecanister assembly will be incrementally lowered down the well during itsnext trip down. For example, causing the follower to compress the camassembly approximately ⅛ of an inch could result in lowering thecanister assembly 4 inches in the well. Of course it should beappreciated by one skilled in the art that the actual jogging amountwill vary depending on several variables such as the diameter of thecable of spool, the sleeve, drive gear, slave gear, etc. The actualamounts can be determined experimentally by trial and error or bycalculating using the known diameters of the various parts mentionedabove.

As the canister assembly is once again lowered into the well thefollower moves toward the limit switch 34. The position of the drivegear and thus the sleeve portion is prevented from returning to itsprevious position by the detent. As the follower moves away from thecollar, the second pin becomes disengaged from the hole in the follower.When this occurs, the collar rotates relative to the sleeve portion to anew position as it slides toward the stop formed by the larger diameterof the lead screw and guided by the pin 150 in the slot portion 146 ofthe sleeve. Because of this rotation action of the collar, when thefollower returns, the second pin will find a new hole in the followerand the process of turning the drive gear repeats.

It should become apparent to one skilled in the art in view of theconcept of the mechanical jogging assembly described above that othertypes of jogging units could be created to accomplish the same joggingconcept. For example, a magnetic pickup device could be used to detectmagnets strategically placed on the spool of cable to determine thenumber of rotations the spool takes and thus the depth the canisterassembly is placed into the well. Electronically the motor/gear assemblycould then be controlled to turn off the motor/gear assembly tosuccessively lower the canister assembly to new predetermined levels inthe well every cycle. Other types of jogging assemblies to accomplishthe disclosed jogging concept should also become apparent to one skilledin the art.

CONCLUSION

It should be clear from the above description that the oil extractor hasseveral advantages. The overall unit is designed to be compact and lightin weight. In the preferred embodiment, the over all dimensions of thisunit are approximately 57″ in length, 21″ wide and 33″ in height and canbe built to weigh less than 500 pounds. With a hoist mounted on a pickuptruck, one individual will be able to install and setup the extractoronto a well, eliminating the need for heavy equipment and numerouspersonnel to install that would otherwise be required for other priorart pumping devices. This will significantly reduce setup costs whencompared to the standard pump jack setup time. Of course the actualdesign and weight of the unit could vary depending on pumping capacityor fluid that the unit is designed for handling. For example, a largercompressor or motor may be needed depending on the application of theunit. Further, the preferred unit is designed to use a ¾ horsepowerelectric motor to extract the oil, compared to 10–40 horsepower motorused on today's pumping units. An 80–90% reduction in the amount ofelectricity required to pump a barrel of oil should be realized.

While the basic components and structure of the base assembly and thecanister assembly was described in greater detail above, it should beunderstood by one skilled in the art that several modifications could bemade without departing from the sprit and scope of the invention. Forexample, rather than using a battery to power the pump in the canisterassembly, the cable used to lower the canister assembly could be amulti-strand wire that also serves to power the pump. Other similarmodifications should be apparent as well. For instance, the diameter ofthe canister assembly will depend on the diameter of the well. Thelength will depend on the desired amount to be recovered by each cycle.Device substitutions or configurations could also be made withoutparting from the spirit and scope of the invention. Depending on theapplication., various sized pumps and motors could be used. Differenttypes of electrical contacts or air passageways or ports could be usedor configured too. Other types and configurations of electricalcomponents used in the electrical enclosure could also be used dependingon the application. For example as illustrated in the electricalschematic diagram shown in FIG. 9, a DC electrical circuit design couldbe used to power a DC motor 170, rather than the AC electrical circuitdepicted in FIG. 8. Preferably this circuit uses standard off the shelfelectrical components such as a single pole, single throw relay switch172, a double pole, double throw relay switch 174, two timers 176, 178,a DC powered compressor 180, and relay switches 182, 184, 186, 188. Asillustrated, the electrical diagram shows a positive terminal of abattery 190, which could be a 12 Volt battery, supplying power to aterminal of the single pole, single throw relay switch 172 as shown.This relay switch is used an on/off switch for the motor as illustrated.Relay switch 174 is used to control the direction the motor. A fuse 175can be use to insulate the circuit from excessive current. Power is alsofed through an on/off switch 192, which would allow a user to turn theextractor on or off. Once the power is turn on, power is supplied to 2relay switches 184, 186, which are used as safety switches. The safetyswitches are preferably wired to be in a normally closed switchposition, so that if the switch is activated, the switch cuts the power(through relay 172) to shut off the motor. One switch 184 is used as aback up limit switch to an up detection limit switch 182, which detectswhen the canister assembly has fully engaged the discharge head asevidenced by the raising of the discharge head. This safety switch 184is preferably placed just slightly above the up detection limit switchand primarily used to detect when the discharge head is raised too highor if the up detection limit switch fails. The other safety switch 186is placed on the jogging assembly (FIG. 7) next to the down detectionlimit switch, as described above, and used to detect when the canisterhas exceeded the maximum depth should a down detection limit switch 188fail. While in the normally closed-switch position the safety switchesallow power to be supplied to a double pole, double throw cycle timer178, which is used to time the various functions of extractor unit, suchas how long the canister assembly is placed down in the well to collectfluid and time at the top. This timer can also be used to power acounter 194 to keep track of the number of cycles made by the extractorunit. The other timer 176 is used to turn on the compressor 180 when theup limit switch 182 redirects power to it as illustrated by the wiring.This timer controls the amount of time the compressor is on to pump thefluid out of the canister assembly. While the wiring diagram has beengenerally discussed, an electrician or one skilled in the art shouldeasily understand the schematic shown. The same level of understandingwould apply to the electrical schematic diagram shown in FIG. 8.

1. An extractor for extracting fluid from a well comprising: a canisterassembly having a storage container for storing fluid extracted from thewell and a nose portion at the top of the canister assembly, wherein thenose portion has a first hole for allowing well fluid to flow into thestorage container when the storage container is lowered into the well, asecond hole connected to a tube that extends along the interior lengthof the storage container, and a third hole for venting air from thestorage container as well fluid flows into the storage container throughthe first hole; and a base assembly for lowering and raising thecanister assembly into and out of the well, wherein the base assemblyhas a discharge head for engaging with the canister assembly when it israised from the well to permit pressurized air to enter the storagecontainer through the first and third holes for removing fluid from thestorage container through the tube and second hole.
 2. The extractor ofclaim 1 wherein the base assembly includes a motor and a spool of wireconnected to the canister assembly, wherein the motor is used to drivethe spool of wire to raise and lower the canister assembly into and outof the well.
 3. The extractor of claim 2 wherein the motor is an ACmotor.
 4. The extractor of claim 2 wherein the motor is a DC motor. 5.The extractor of claim 1 further including a timer for determining theamount of time the canister assembly is placed into the well to extractfluid.
 6. The extractor of claim 1 wherein the base assembly furtherincludes a jogging assembly for incrementally lowering the canisterassembly to lower levels in the well with each recovery cycle.
 7. Theextractor of claim 6 wherein the jogging assembly provides a means forlimiting the travel depth of the canister assembly lowered down a well.